Apparatus for melting paraffin and base sediment in oil wells



Jan. 22], 1924 H. S. RANKIN APPARATUS FOR MELTING PARAFFIN AND BASESEDIMENT IN OIL WELLS Filed April 15 ream d ea, teas.

Golden,

, reaa'ros ron-mnmme r HERMAN S. RANKIN, F GOLDEN, COLORADO.

FFHQ' AIBITIEI) BASE SEDIMENT IN 01L WELLS.

Application filed April 15,- 1921, Serial No. $61,621.

To all whom it may concern:

it known that I, HERMAN S. RANKIN, a citizen .of the United States,residing at in the county of J efierson and State of Coloradoyhaveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forMelting-Paraffin and Base Sediment in 011 fill) and partially in sections Wells, and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to pro vide a means for clearing oilwells which have become clogged by reason of solidified parafiin andbase sediment.

Briefly, the invention comprises apparatus for the introduction of hotgases supplied by continuous combustion as from an oil. burner into aclosed member which has been lowered into the solidified matter in. thewell. lhe apparatus comprises a furnace or combustion chamber equip dwith an oil burner, air bein supplie to the burner by means of a b ower.A pair of pipes are lowered into the well, one being smaller than theother and located within said other, the larger pipe being closed at itslower end. Hot gases are introduced into one pipe and drawn from thebottom thereof outward through the other, the vacuum pump being used toassist the operation.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a View partiall in side elevation owing theapparatus in operative position; and

Fig. 2 is a plan thereof. a A motor truck is preferably provided, asillustrated in'Fig. 1, for carrying the furnace orcornbustion chamber10, a blower B and a vacuum pump V. The furnace has an opening at thetop thereof adapted to be closed by any suitable closure means 12. Anoil burner 14: is mounted at one side of the furnace for providing fuelfor continuous combustion within the furnace. An oil duct 15 leads tothe burner 14 and a supply of air is conducted to said burner from theblower B by means of a conduit 16. The burner may also be supplied witha gas head, 18 to which gas may be conducted through a pipe 20 so as tosupply gas to the burner if desired. 7

The blower B is driven by a shaft S- which also drives the vacuumpump'V, the shaft S being in turn driven preferably by a silent chain 22operated from a gear 'provided on the transmission'l of the truck. Aconduit 24: leads to the vacuum pump V, whleireby spent gases are drawnout of the we The hot products of combustion formed in the furnace 10through the medium of the burner 14: are withdrawn from the top of saidfurnace b means of a connection 25 which is adapte to be coupled up witha pipe 26 which islowered into the well during operation, The pipe 26 isconnected with a T 28 by means of a nipple 30 and a; cap 32. The T 28also has a short connection 34: adapted to be coupled to the vacuumconduit 24. The T 28 is secured on the upper end of a large conduit 35which is mounted in the ordinary casinghead 36 mounted on the casing Cin lieu of the oil discharge pipe. The casing head 36 is shown with theordinary gas discharge conduits 38. The casing G is shown as providedwith the ordinary apertures 4C0 in-the lower end thereof which ispositioned within the shot hole H. The lower end of the large COIldlfil]35 is closed by means of'a cap a2 and pipe 26 is lowered into theconduit 35 to a point adjacent said cap 12.

The connection 25 and the pipe 26 are provided with flanges for couplingthe same together and the vacuum conduit 24 and the connection at areprovided with con ling flanges 52. After the conduit 35. an the ipe 26have been lowered into position. within the well and properly connectedwith the casing head 36, the truck is moved into position to bring theflan cs 50 and 52 in coupling relation. The c osure 12 is removed fromthe furnace 10 and the oil burner 1 1 is set in operation. has beenoperating long enough to generate the desired amount of heat and toplace the furnace 10 in proper operating condition, the closure 12 isplaced in position. This allows the vacuum pump V to operate through theconduits 24: and 35 to cause the hot products of combustion from thefurnace 10 to circulate through conduit 35 and through the pipe 26. Inthis manner the blower B is tending to When said burner m9 combustion tothe bottom of contluit 35 end the vacuum pump V is tending to draw themtherefrom, blower B however, is of such low pressure that thecirculation is caused elmost Wholly by the vacuum pump.

Inasmuch as the oil burner operates continuously and is capable ofenereting at large amount of best, the solidified perailin and sedimentin the bottom ofthe Well will be quickly melted and the Well restored tonormal opera-ting conditioni By controlling the amount of oil or gas fedto the burner, the amount of heat generated in a unit of time may becontrolled as desired. It has been found that a small amount of oil willenablea Well to be melted and cleaned in a comparatively short time. Theheat genereteol by the device may be further conserved by thoroughlyinsulating the furnece 10 the connection 25 anal the pipe 26, said pipe26 being preferably insulated to its lower encl Within the conduit 35 sothat heat will not be transmitted from seid pipe 26 to the gases in theupper enol of conduit 333 which are being withdrawn. With this apperstusit will be easily possible to reach a temperature approximating 2000 F.in a very short interval of time and to maintain the some with caseuntil the well has been cleared.

ll claim:

Apparatus for clearing oil Wells comprising a furnece located at the topof the Well, e blower, a pipe the furnacefor supplying a continuous flowof air to the letter means connected with th pipe for (lelivering acontinuous liow of fuel thereto in fluid t'orrn means also located atthe top of the well for producing e partial vacuum and means forconnecting the furnace with the vacuum source comprising a closed loopextending to the bottom of the Well and through which the products ofcombustion from the furnace are caused to pass by the vecuum producingmeans,

in testimony whereof l afiix my signature,

RitNKIN.

connecting the blower with

